A number of appraisals and two resolutions were approved by the Warsaw Redevelopment Commission Monday for the senior housing project on East Market Street and the mixed-use building on North Buffalo Street.
City Planner Jeremy Skinner first requested the board approve four appraisals – for the properties at 800 and 802 E. Center St. and for five lots on East Market Street, also known as 805 E. Market St.
“When we’re doing this, we’re approving those appraisals, and then we’re approving the resolution, which then outlines the process of which we’ll be both acquiring and disposing of the property to the benefit of this senior housing project on Market Street,” Skinner said.
He said the Center and Market streets appraisals/resolution was different from the Buffalo Street project because for the Buffalo Street one “we’ll just be straight disposing of the property, but this one we’re going to be acquiring 800 and 802, but then we’re also going to dispose that property back to them, and then we’re also going to dispose to them the five lots that are part of 805 E. Market St.,” Skinner explained. He said that was the Redevelopment Commission’s contribution that it agreed to about a year ago when the senior housing project developer – Englewood – applied for a housing grant, that was awarded, through the Indiana Housing & Community Development.
“We were fortunate enough to get awarded those state funds, and so we’re moving forward with that (senior housing) project,” Skinner said.
The Commission accepted the appraisals, which included an appraisal of the 802 E. Center St. property by Dawson Appraisal, putting the market value of it at $120,000; an appraisal of the 800 E. Center St. property by Dawson Appraisal, putting the market value of it at $192,000; and the appraisal of five lots on Market Street, known as 805 E. Market St., by Dawson Appraisal, putting the market value of them at $97,000.
The board then approved a resolution regarding the “acquisition of certain real property and the disposition of certain property in connection with and a proposed senior housing project in the city.”
Skinner summed the resolution up by saying it lays out the process by which the Commission acquires and disposes of the properties on East Center and Market streets.
The senior housing facility will be 72 units “located generally in the 800 block of East Center Street and East Market Street,” according to the resolution.
At the end of the meeting, Skinner provided a tentative timeline of the next steps for the senior housing project.
He said for about the next month and a half, “We’ll have some advertisements that go out. And then there’s a waiting period, and then we will finalize this disposition process. At that point, we’ll purchase and close on properties.”
He said the developer is in the middle of its design now, “so they’re trying to finalize their design to get the building out to bid.”
He assumed construction could begin this spring. With 72 units, and being a three-story building, Skinner said construction could take about 1-1/2 years.
The next set of appraisals the Redevelopment Commission approved was for lots 1-4 of the Waterworks Subdivision plat, which is the area that will include the mixed-used building on North Buffalo Street.
Skinner said there’s technically eight appraisals – two different appraisals for four different lots.
“So we accept those appraisals, and then we move to the resolution, which, in this case is setting out the disposition of those properties,” he said.
A copy of the appraisal report for lots 1-4 by Verne V. Mitchell & Associates Inc. lists the market values of the lots as: lot 1A, $26,000; 1B, $80,000; lot 2, $58,800; lot 3, $112,500; and lot 4, $3,900. The appraisal from Griffin Real Estate Services Inc. lists the appraisal prices as: lot 1, $117,100; lot 2, $61,950; lot 3, $118,300; and lot 4, $4,100.
The board then approved a resolution regarding “disposition of property relating to the Buffalo Street project.”
The city entered into an agreement in 2016 with developer Dave Matthews out of Mishawaka to develop the North Buffalo Street. Once completed, the development will include various types of housing, a plaza with a fountain and a mixed-used building where the old Indiana American Water Co. building stands.
Toward the end of Monday’s meeting, Mayor Joe Thallemer told the board that he and Skinner did get a chance to go through the town homes on North Buffalo Street.
“I was pretty impressed. They’re close to being done, so I don’t think it will be too much longer to have that opportunity to see them,” he said. “They’ve been done really well.”
Skinner was going to reach out to the real estate agent to see if the Redevelopment Commission could get a tour of the town homes.
The costs of the appraisals were approved when the Redevelopment Commission accepted the claims near the start of Monday’s meeting – $7,000 to Verne Mitchell, two of $1,080 each to Dawson and $7,100 to Griffin.
